


Be careful with that one, he'll do what it takes to survive

by Kymopoleia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amnesia, M/M, Original Character(s), Trans Male Character, lance is like 22-24, probably exactly what you think this is, set atleast 6-8 years after the show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-28 23:50:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7661980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymopoleia/pseuds/Kymopoleia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance has been missing for four years, coming up on five. The team has moved on, and while they still search for the blue lion and her paladin, they keep their focus on Zarkon and defeating him, though hope still feels slim. Then they, battered and exhausted, catch a distress beacon and head for it, their friend in the back of their minds but morale low.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> okay this midkey reminds me of 'Burn' from hamilton so cheesy last minute title ta da!  
> if i think of something better it'll be changed

“Alright Paladins, I’m sure you know the drill.”

Allura’s voice comes to life over the comms, tired and mildly crackling from the strain the helmets had been put under. They’re heading down to the planet the call had been made from in just two lions, yellow and green, Pidge’s masking technology hopefully hiding them from any hostile forces.

“Yeah, we got it.” Pidge rolls her eyes as they get down towards the surface, some of the desert planet’s dirt and sand getting kicked up as the two lions settle. The comm shuts off again and Pidge eases Green into a sitting position before standing herself, looking out the control panel’s screen at the mountain range and the huge cave. “Shiro, I’m not the only one who doesn’t like this, right?”

Shiro checked his helmet to make sure it was still on tight, checked that his replacement bayard is working, and nodded. “We don’t always have to like it, Pidge. If it’s a trap we get out of there, if we can help them out and it isn’t a trap then we’ll know we’ve atleast done that much.”

Pidge shrugs and Hunk’s voice comes over the comms, and Shiro winces at the sound. They needed to repair those, too. When had things gotten this hard?

“Hey -eith an’ me are waiting. There’s – guy, I think, or, some- or whatever.” Hunk’s comms crackle worse than Allura’s, and Shiro shifts uncomfortably as he and Pidge leave the lion, thinking about when he’d taken a blast to the head, how lucky they were that he wasn’t hurt.

“How far away?” Pidge asks, activating her bayard warily.

“Base of the mountain, about 200 meters.” Keith pipes up, the weariness obvious in his voice. Shiro steps out of Green first, immediately raising a hand to shield his eyes further from the sun and look at the mountain. It takes a few seconds to tell, but then he identifies the humanoid-shape, standing away from the entrance and leaning on a sharp jut of rock. There was little identifiable about the shape, other than a pair of near-comically large goggles and the whipping brown fabric. There may be a flash of black underneath, but Shiro can’t tell with the torrents of loose sand being kicked up.

“Alright, I see him.” Shiro nods, heading for the figure with large steps. He gives the figure time to move or signal them, but doesn’t rush himself or his team. He knows Keith’s leg is still bothering him, that Pidge has a mostly healed slice on her stomach, that Hunk’s eyesight is still off and his balance nearly ruined. He doesn’t mind slowing down.

By the time they reach the base of the mountain, they’re sweating under their suits and Shiro can feel the tenseness of the team. Their visors are still up to keep the sand and sun at bay, but something about the situation feels off.

When they’re close enough, Shiro steps forward, looking the figure over. “Were you the one who activated the distress beacon?” He asks, making sure his bayard is still clipped to his suit compulsively as he talks.

“Yep.” Comes the simple answer, the figure standing up straight. There’s an odd feeling in Shiro’s throat at the voice, something about the sound through the muffled cloth.

“Where’s your ship?” Shiro raised an eyebrow behind the visor, wondering how well the person can see him.

“Inside the mountain. Don’t want to call too much attention.” The figure steps forward and half turns, the back of his fraying ensemble whipping in the wind more without the slight shelter from the rock.

Shiro doesn’t need to look at his team to feel them tense further. “Wait, one second.” He steps towards the figure. “This system is under Galra control, can you confirm that you’re not with or working for them?” The question falls easily from his lips, practiced and repeated countless times over the years.

“I’m number three on their most wanted list.” Comes the reply, flat but almost amused. “It’s a shoot-on-sight deal, I’m sure you know how it is.” The figure pulls a hand out of their pocket and points at him casually, almost in a chastising manner but not very seriously. “And I’ll have you know, your information is outdated. This system is cleared as of a week ago.”

Shiro blinks in surprise, and he can hear the soft “What?” and “Excuse me?” from behind him, only Keith remaining silent. “What do you mean, the system is cleared?”

The figure reaches up and pulls their scarf down, but leaves the goggles and hood on. “I mean there’s no Galra here. Would’ve thought the members of Voltron could have caught onto that.”

Shiro tenses further, but tries not to let himself come off as unfriendly. He smiles at the figure, and the figure smiles back. He can see coppery dark skin, humanish looking lips and a thick scar under the right goggle lens. Shiro can’t see any more skin but he almost wishes he could.

“So you’ve heard of us. That’s good.” Shiro steps forward. “Show us your ship?”

The figure starts walking. Shiro notices the barest hints of a limp, the barest hints of youth fading and years fighting, the barest hints of aches and pains that he’s grown used to.

It’s quiet for a little bit, but then the figure talks again, and Shiro wants to place where he’s heard it before.

“I was expecting to have some company of the worst kind, if you get what I mean.” He, Shiro’s guessing they’re a he, replies. “So I got Bl- uh, my ship into the mountain and set off the call. When I saw your lions coming in on the scanner,”

“Excuse me?” Pidge pipes up, just as they’ve entered the cave. “How did you know they were lions? They’re cloaked.”

The figure keeps walking, tossing the answer over his shoulder like it isn’t important with this little grin. “You’re the Knights of Voltron or whatever, right? Isn’t that what your uniforms mean?”

“Yes, paladins.”

The figure pauses for a second, and Shiro realizes that they’d only ever seen one hand and tenses, activating his bayard at long last, keeping it to his side but still letting the gentle purple glow illuminate the figure’s back.

Hunk keeps his bayard deactivated, which is good, but the soft green glow and consistent red soothe him, letting him know that his team is behind him and that he isn’t just following some alien into a mountain alone. They’re following an alien into a mountain together.

Well, in all honesty that didn’t sound very good either.

After a while more of walking, they hit a corner, and the figure turns around, pulling down his hood this time. Shiro can’t see very well with just the glow from their bayards, but he’s pretty sure something is off. “My ship is just through there.” He says. “But before you see it, I need to know something.”

Shiro glances back at Pidge, and she nods. “Alright, what do you need to know?”

The figure shifts awkwardly. “Can I trust you?”

Shiro blinks, glancing back at them. Slowly he deactivates his bayard and puts it away. “Of course, we’re just wary. I’m sure you understand?”

The figure nods, and Shiro sees him cross his arms, which eases his concern about the figure having some kind of weapon.

“I get it. I’m some guy in the middle of nowhere who put up a distress beacon and hid his ship in a mountain. Shady.”

Keith shifts behind Shiro, and the tension feels like it’s melting a bit.

“I did it to keep some… people safe. I can’t let them get hurt, you have to understand that.”

Hunk, unsurprisingly, is the one who speaks up. “We won’t hurt them, we promise. We’re here to help, not to hurt.”

The figure, seemingly convinced, turns and heads around the corner.

Turning the corner brings them to a massive cavern, stalactites nearly the size of their lions hanging from the impossibly high ceiling and fog gathered up to about a foot off the ground. Shiro wonders if all of the moisture in the planet were hidden here. But then he sees it, the gleam through the mist, the columns of metal, the flash of blue in the purplish dark.

Shiro reactivates his bayard as his eyes widen, and he shifts so that the spiked shield is in front of him, and the sudden flash of yellow from behind him shows that Hunk felt the same sense of urgency he had.

“How the hell do you have the blue lion?”

The guy tenses and pulls out something slowly, and then he’s holding Lance’s bayard, and it’s activating to form his rifle. It’s been so long since Shiro last saw it that he almost doesn’t recognize it at first. But then Keith steps forward, and Pidge breathes in sharply, and Shiro’s grip on his own bayard tenses.

“I- I won’t have an answer you’re going to like.” The figure replies, head turning like his eyes couldn’t pick one of them to stare at. “Put your weapons away and I’ll put mine away too, but until they’re off I’m not saying anything!”

Shiro turned his head to glance at Hunk, who’s already looking at him. They share a look for a few seconds before Shiro glances at the rest of the team, catching each of their eyes and nonverbally agreeing to trust, just for a few minutes, the stranger standing before them. The stranger with the familiar voice, with the familiar face, with the bayard in the shape of their friend’s and with the blue lion.

Shiro lets everyone else power down their weapons and then, finally, his own, eyes locked with the stranger. “Fine. But if the answer doesn’t add up, we reserve the right to ask more…” He hums, bayard glowing for a second before he lets it remain in its usual form. “Questions.”

The figure nods and puts his own bayard away, tucking it inside his ratty coat and shoving his sleeves up, showing more coppery skin that Shiro swears he’d recognize somewhere, covered in scars that they can only barely see in the dim cave.

Everyone steps forwards and the figure steps back until they’re at Blue’s feet, the metal showing the same distress and tiredness that its apparent owner seemed to share. Shiro crosses his arms.

“Talk.”

“My name is Pal.” The stranger unwinds his scarf, tying it instead haphazardly around his waist. Shiro notices, again, the scar on his right cheek, the dark eyebrows just over the top of the goggles, even the mess of sweat-slicked hair on the top of his head. Shiro isn’t entirely sure what vibe he’s getting, but he lets himself listen and try to absorb the information. “I woke up about-“ A smile quirks the corners of his mouth up. “I’m not sure, I never got the hang of ticks. But I woke up one day, blood dried all over, inside of her,” He reaches behind him and pats Blue’s paw, and the loud purring noise resonates through everyone in the room. “My head hurt, and I think I had damage to the hearing in my left ear.” He taps it, turning his head slightly. “I didn’t remember anything. I still don’t really remember anything.”

Pal shifts then slowly sits down on Blue’s paw, one of his hands moving to rest on the metal and ease himself down. “I don’t know who I am, I don’t know what’s going on, all I know is what’s happened since then. I took my ship to the first planet I found and was attacked on the spot, and it took a few thousand ticks to win, but by the time we did it felt really good. I ended up staying there for a while, helping them rebuild and fighting off enemies and…” An amused chuckle bubbles up, and the noise catches Shiro off guard. “Healing, I guess? I stayed there a long time.”

“Then I moved on. I found out I was wanted, like you guys were. I was known by then as separate from you guys, so I was bumped down to third most wanted, right under the Galra commander who helped you all escape.”

Shiro shifts, trying to sort through the information. “Okay, I’m interested. Continue?”

Pal nods. “I bounced around through the system, and it took a while because it was just me, a couple friends from that first planet, and the population of the planet helping me. But about a week ago I managed to actually do it.”

“The friends from the first planet, are they the people you’re trying to keep safe?” Keith pipes up, looking up at something Shiro can’t see.

“Not quite.” Pal replies, craning his own neck to look up at Blue. He stands and turns slowly, a low unfamiliar curselike noise coming from between his lips. “I- oh no. I told them to wait. They’re the ones who I’m trying to protect.”

Two children descend from long cables that seemed to be coming out of Blue’s mouth, and a few thoughts race through Shiro’s head.

His first thought is wondering how smaller versions of himself and his sister got to this desert moon, bundled in ratty clothing and faces once again baby-faced and chubby.

His second thought is that, no, the children can’t be him and his sister because they look too much like Lance, that there has to be some relation.

His third thought is remembering the last conversation he and Lance had, bundled in his comforter and soaking up last remnants of warmth.

His final thought? That there’s no feasible way for human children to be this far in space with no explanation, and that his feet are carrying him forward to cup Pal’s face, pushing the goggles up and staring, eyes searching and stomach turning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> people are way more positive than expected, which is really nice and super comforting. thank you!

[5 years earlier]

Shiro looks down at Lance, his thumb rubbing Lance’s cheek gently and the rest of his hand smoothed back, cupping Lance’s face as if he’s the most precious thing in the world. Lance is giggling and looking up at him through heavily lidded eyes, his own thumb rubbing at the dip in Shiro’s chin and his knuckles rubbing against his windpipe. Shiro leans down to steal a kiss, and right now he wouldn’t trade this moment for anything else in the world.

Their lips were probably molded to fit together, created by some force beyond their control to press and bite and smile and mash together every time they wanted to. Lance is tipping his head to the side and arching his back up, spreading his thighs as far as they could go to make more room for Shiro to rock and rub against him. Shiro is doing said rocking and rubbing, holding Lance tightly and only barely keeping himself from laying down on top of his boyfriend, laughing into their kiss at the joke they probably wouldn’t remember come morning.

Lance is the one who ends the kiss this time, pulling back and letting his thumb trail down Shiro’s chest, down his windpipe and over his collarbone and into the sweat-slicked dip between his pecs, eyes following the movement before smiling up at Shiro, still letting a few chuckles huff out slowly.

Shiro shook his head, moving up to kiss Lance’s forehead before letting himself just hang his head and close his eyes and breathe.

“Was it good though?” He asks tentatively, rocking his hips down again. “Am I okay?”

Lance rolls his eyes and moves his hand over to tweak Shiro’s nipple, eliciting a small gasp from him. “Kashi, babe, if you sucked I would have told you like, months ago.” He offers a little grin. “But yeah, you were fucking great. Just don’t stop, ‘kay?”

Shiro hums and steals a kiss before rolling them, not caring that the sheets were getting messed up and that they were going to get cold, just letting himself rest and letting Lance stretch out on top of him.

“What if I did stop?” Shiro asks, eyebrows up and good natured smile already in place.

Lance hits his chest lightly, laughing even as he tries to frown. “Don’t! Shiro, you totally have the best dick in space. What would I do if you just stopped?”

“Whatever you were doing before?” Shiro guesses, letting his hands slide down to cup the back of Lance’s thighs and squeeze, teasing and sending a full body shudder through his boyfriend.

Boyfriend. Shiro liked the sound of that, had missed that.

[Now]

It’s Lance’s face staring back at Shiro, that same one he’d kissed five years before and the same face that he’d been staring at since he’d seen it, wondering why it was familiar. He’s filled with a rush of fear and sadness and _emotion_ that even after all this time, it still took seeing his pretty blue eyes to remember.

But, just as Shiro had grabbed Lance’s face and shoved the goggles- dirty, cracked, crusted with ash and dirt and oil and grime- Lance is shoving Shiro aside and darting past him to grab the children with quick deathgrips on the back of each of their outfits, quickly pulling them to his chest and backing away from the group at large.

Shiro steps towards Lance again, noticing how the little boy who he’d thought was himself for a second- taller than the girl, with scabs on one round cheek and long white scars on his forearms- clings to Lance as if he were scared of them. He notices how the girl is leaning forwards, legs loose and one little hand fisting the fabric, making a face at Keith and gesturing at him with a rock that she’d managed to grab before Lance had snatched her up, one hand white-knuckle tight on the back of her sweater and the other half-locked around the boy as he rummages for, presumably, his bayard.

“Don’t- don’t come any closer!” Lance shouts, eyes wide and panicked as he stumbles back, only keeping his balance through sheer willpower.

Shiro stops walking, and it only barely crosses his mind that everyone else must have moved too, whipping weapons out and expecting some kind of fight just from the shock and panic they’d doubtless detected on their leader.

He can’t even blame them.

“Lance, it’s us.” Pidge says, voice calm but shaking next to Shiro, and it’s then that he realizes they have fanned out, that it must be terrifying.

“I’m not- I don’t- get away from me!” Lance replies, voice so far past ‘panicking’ that it shouldn’t even be in the same verb range.

Shiro holds up his hands, his bayard nowhere near out anymore. “Lance, calm down, alright? We aren’t going to hurt you, it’s just been a long time. We’re freaking out, you’re freaking out, just calm down. We aren’t going to hurt them.”

And then the little girl winds her arm back and pegs the rock straight into Keith’s chestplate. Keith stumbles back a step, and Shiro has to bite back a startled laugh, though the betrayed look on his friend’s face shows how poorly he did at hiding it.

“Nina! What did I tell you about that?” Lance pulls her closer to him, sucking his teeth chastisingly. “I told you not to do that, didn’t I? What do you say to the… um… red one?”

There’s an audible intake of breath from Keith, and Shiro feels an echo of pain at the sound of that, even as the little girl pouts at her father before finally squirming and huffing. “Fine. Sorry.”

Lance lets out a small noise of relief, looking back up at the group. Shiro’s known him long enough to see that there’s tension slowly ebbing from his shoulders. He’s still stressed, but the immediate problem has been tackled.

“Good, thank you.” Lance tells her, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before looking back at them, weary and scared but resigned to dealing with them. “Please- please put those away. They won’t hurt you. They’re-“ He makes a helpless noise, as if he’s trying to put something to words but obviously failing. “Young, okay?”

Shiro doesn’t have to look to know that everyone else is deactivating their bayards, the fading glows and soft noises the only proof he needs. Without them the cave is only that much darker, but he decides that he can handle it.

Shiro swallows and runs a hand through his hair, the pit in his stomach only growing as he watches. “Lance, we aren’t going to hurt you either. We’re surprised.”

Lance isn’t looking at them when he answers, but it’s obvious that he’s forcing himself to keep his eyes on them. Something’s off, he’s too _quiet_. “I know. Can- can you fix Blue or not?”

It reminds Shiro of why they’re here, and he shares a quick look with Hunk before he’s stepping forward to run some tests and figure out what’s going on, the holoscreen telling him everything easily in the Altean they’d long since learned how to read.

“Well, it isn’t actually that hard. You’ve kept her in good condition.” Hunk assesses after a few seconds, the scan surprisingly quick. “She really just has some corrupted crystals and connections, once those are replaced and some rough parts repaired, she’ll be good.”

Lance let out a long sigh. “That’s it?” He’s looking hopeful as he presses a quick smile into the boy’s hair. “Okay. How quickly can you do it? Do you have the crystals on hand?”

“Actually, quick isn’t really a word for it, bro.” Hunk offers an awkward smile, and Shiro feels a wave of relief. “We ran out of most of those after some damage to Keith’s last time we did a big battle. We have about maybe two, you need like twenty.”

Lance’s shoulders fall. “And let me guess, the connections will be hard to fix too?”

Hunk nods. “Yeah, we had to run a lot of new ones in ours after all the battles they’ve been through. Space is really stressful to the lions, and it’s all we can do to keep up with them.” He rests a hand on Blue’s paw and her low rumble of agreement makes him smile. “You can stay with us, buddy, while we do work on her. We have this castle-“

“I know about your castle.” Lance replies, though he’s already sighing in resignation. “I know it’s a flying death trap.”

“Ouch.” Hunk replies, crossing his arms. “We keep that thing in pretty good shape, all things considered, bro.”

“No, no, not the state of the castle. The Galra want to destroy everyone who’s ever been inside of the ship. And stop calling me ‘bro’ and ‘buddy’ and shit, you don’t know what it means out here.”

Hunk blinks in surprise at the sharp tone and looks back to Shiro for help.

“Lance, think through your options.” It’s Pidge who speaks instead, cutting him off. “You can stay here with these kids and no resources and an inoperable lion, or you can come with us and maybe learn some things about your past.”

He sucks in a breath before answering. “My past doesn’t define who I am right now, shortstack. I know I need help o-“

“Dad,” The little boy tugs on Lance’s sleeve, and Lance has to divert his attention. “What, Gage?” He looks between Pidge and Lance, then over to his sister. “Don’t you wanna know?”

Lance sighs. “I don’t need to know that badly, I’m not sure if I want to trust them. You two are more important-“

“They don’ wanna hurt us.” Nina interrupts, looking out at Keith specifically. “The mean one didn’ even react when I hit ‘im!”

Lance snorts in surprise as Keith’s scowl deepens. “And you _shouldn’t_ have hit him, Nina.”

She simply blows a raspberry and lets her brother get their father’s attention again. Gage shifts and pulls out the puppy dog eyes, playing dirty. “We wanna go. Please?”

Shiro watches him battle out the urges he must be having- give in and go, or stay and risk getting something worse. Lance slowly lifts his head and sighs, locking eyes with him.

“Fine.”

[5 years earlier]

Shiro slid the heel of his palm down Lance’s side and hip until he reached the thighs that had been around his hips a few minutes before, pulling them back a little bit closer before letting his arm rest, draped over his boyfriend like they had nowhere to be. In all honesty, they didn’t.

Shiro lets out a long breath and kisses behind Lance’s ear, unable to keep the lazy smile off his face. “Still good?” He asks softly, echoing their conversation from a couple months before. 

Lance turns his head to sneak a kiss. “Better than good.”

“Good.” Shiro nods.

Lance lets out a little whiny noise as he shifts, moving so that they’re facing each other. The blankets are still tight around them, keeping the chilly air out and protecting the last trickles of mood before they doze off.

“Kashi, can I tell you something?”

Shiro nods, having to wrestle with his will to not let his eyes droop. “Mhmm.”

“You know how I um, have periods and stuff? Like, I bleed?”

Shiro furrows his eyebrows before nodding, letting himself close his eyes for a second as Lance’s hand finds its way up to comb through the white patch of hair. “Mhm.”

“And you know how it’s kind of important to do that?” Lance’s voice lowers a bit, a bit shakier than normal. “Like, you know?”

“Yeah, mhm.” Shiro replies, letting out a soft sigh as Lance keeps playing with his hair.

“Well, I haven’t. In like two months.”

It takes Shiro a minute to process that one.

He begins to reply, a simple ‘mhm,’ prompting Lance to finish the thought. But then he pauses, eyes opening to study the nervous shine to his boyfriend’s eyes, how his lips are barely parted, the nervous furrow to those eyebrows. Shiro takes a few seconds to process that.

“So,” Shiro coughs. “Do you think…?”

Lance shrugs. “Yeah? I could just be irregular, but I haven’t had that problem since middle school, and two months is a lot…”

Shiro nods. “Yeah, I know.” He moves his hand to pull Lance closer, eliciting a little squeak from him. He kisses Lance’s forehead. “And what do you want to do if, you know?”

Lance shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess I want kids.”

Shiro hums. “We haven’t been very ‘safe’ when it comes to that, I guess.”

“It’s kinda hard to find, like, space condoms.” Lance replies. “And somebody, not gonna name names,” He playfully narrows his eyes. “Has terrible pullout game.”

Shiro snorts and buries his nose in Lance’s hair, shaking his head slowly. “You said you didn’t mind.”

“I don’t, but who’s gonna pilot Blue if I can’t for a while? What am I going to do?”

Shiro hums. “We’ll figure it out, I promise. Allura could probably do it for a little while, just long enough for you to get back on your feet.”

Lance buries his face in Shiro’s chest, sighing. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Hey, Lance?”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

[Now]

Shiro steps out of the cave, tapping the comms on. “Princess?”

“Yes, Shiro?” She comes in a few seconds later, the static a little better. “What’s the situation concerning the distress call?”

“Hunk and Yellow are going to bring the ship up. And, Allura, when you see it you can’t freak out.”

“Excuse me? Why would I be freaking out?”

“We found him.”

“Him who?” She asks quietly.

“Lance.”

**Author's Note:**

> quick warning: yeah this contains a trans male character with two kids that he made, himself, with his vagina, if u are uncomfortable about this i'm sorry but it's 1) relevant to plot and 2) not going to change so,  
> it will also contain a character who's hard of hearing from head trauma and is less relevant but still a thing  
> and general stuff
> 
> sorry if this sounds a bit rude i've just heard about the witch hunts regarding dirty laundry and if y'all are gonna get mad at someone for taking their time to write something then just stop here


End file.
